Visible and Painful Left Hip Bursa

Is it common for the Bursa to pop out and be visible? If so, is there a way to make it stop popping out?

I guess my bursitis started when I was about 15. I could do a little hip gyration and pop out my left side bursa - although at the time I didn't know what a bursa was. I'd just hobble around with my left hip sticking out just to make my sisters and brother laugh. It didn’t hurt and all I had to do to make it pop back in was to swing my butt to the right.

I didn’t notice any pain in my hips (left side) until I was about 24 and 8 month pregnant. My doctor was an Osteopath– All he did was have me lie down on the table on my right side where he proceeded to climb up on the table practically on top of me and pop my hip back into place. GOD – What a relief!

Now I’m 46. I was diagnosed with bilateral bursitis about 10 years ago. Over the years I’ve had flair ups, but nothing compared to what I’ve experience recently.

In October 2011 both hips were hurting very bad – I was walking quite a bit and trying to lose weight. So my doctor gave me cortisone shots in both hips. The right hip responded very well. I’ve had no pain at all with that hip. But the left hip has been terribly painful and has started popping out again like it did when I was a kid except now it hurts when it pops back in place. There was a day when a friend of mine was helping me put away groceries. He was standing behind me when I bent down to put away something. When I stood up my hip had popped way out and he saw it and all he could say in a nauseating tone was “ummm…..that doesn’t look right!”

I had to do a gyration to get it to pop back in and when it did, I felt a rippling motion up the left side of my butt and then it felt like the entire left side of my butt slid right up into my lower back, then I had a very sharp pain – like someone had stuck a knife right into the lower left side of my back. All of this happened in about a minute. I went back to putting away my groceries. But within an hour my left leg went stiff and was throbbing down to my knee.

By the time I realized this may have been serious enough to go to the doctor, he was out of town, so I went to his urgent care people. Explained the symptoms, she read my file and saw that I had “chronic pain” and told me to take vitamin d3 2000 IU, gave me a shot of toradol and flexural. I waited 2 days and went to the emergency room. The ER Doctor thought I may have torn something but wouldn’t do an MRI and referred me to an Orthopedic Dr. Since I was private pay – I would have to see my family dr to order an MRI. I explain all of this to my family doctor (this is 3 weeks after the injury). He said if there was anything torn or a dislocation it would still show in the MRI.

I saw the Orthopedic Doctor the following week. He told me the MRI was normal. He asks me if there is anything wrong with my back. I told him I don’t know. He wants me to come back for silicone injections and physical therapy. Since I’m private pay- it will probably be awhile before I can afford to do all that.

My left bursa now pops out when I walk or step in a certain direction or bend down. I can't sleep on my left side since I can't put any pressure on it. It pops out when I sleep on my right side and it wakes me up at night. It’s terribly painful. I’ve stopped walking – I put a medical hold on my gym membership. I’ve found that staying down and keeping my left leg warm has worked the best. I'm taking Naporsin If anyone out there has any suggestions or know of a better anti-inflamatory medication – I would greatly appreciate it.

It is not common for the hip bursa to pop out though this could occur with injuries or chronic inflammations etc. Well, with your symptoms it is interesting to note that an MRI has not showed anything; though it would still be difficult to comment on the situation without a detailed physical examination. Also without an indication of the cause at hand it would be difficult to suggest anything. If possible I would suggest getting a second opinion with another orthopedician, preferably at a university/ teaching hospital to be sure that there isn’t an injury/ malformation involved and suggestion of an appropriate management plan. Meanwhile I would suggest resting the leg. Ice-packs/ warm compresses with NSAIDS may be helpful for pain relief.
Hope this is helps.

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